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Faded Skies

World War Three reshaped society into isolated city-states struggling to cling to the concept of pre-war countries, separated by vast swaths of land teeming with opportunistic scavengers and barely civilized tribes. Ascendant Pharmaceuticals holds the power within a string of cities along the east coast of the former United States; bribes and intimidation have turned the once-neutral Municipal Authority into little more than a private security force.
Everyone dreads Fade, a brutal disease that falls from the clouds. Victims wither over the course of weeks, their skin consumed by a creep of deathly grey. Memories, and the person who once existed, slide into oblivion with an agonizing death.
No one remembers where it came from; everyone knows Ascendant sells the cure, but only Citizens can afford the exorbitant cost of the anti-Fade drug Xenodril.

The rest are left to die.
Nine year old Maya Oman has spent most of her short life as the face of her mother’s company, appearing in advertisements for everything from cosmetics to Xenodril.
One may think selling the only cure to a horrible death would be easy, but given the cost, not everyone wants to go without food to survive Fade.
Until they witness what it does to someone.